CHAPTER TWO: THE WORLD THAT REJECTED HIM
The bells did not stop ringing.
They echoed through the mountain like a warning—deep, ancient, and merciless. Each toll vibrated through Kael's bones, as if the world itself was announcing his arrival.
He stepped out of the ritual chamber.
Cold wind slammed into his face, carrying the smell of iron, ash, and fear. Before him stretched a massive stone bridge suspended between jagged cliffs. Below it, endless darkness swallowed all light.
On the other side stood hundreds of youths—mages, nobles, warriors—lined up in polished robes and enchanted armor. Crystals floated above them, glowing with controlled magic.
The Mage Selection Trials.
And Kael did not belong.
The moment he appeared, the whispers began.
"That's him… the magicless one."
"Why is he here?"
"Didn't he fail last year?"
Kael felt Kael's old memories stir—humiliation, fists to the ribs, laughter behind his back. This body remembered weakness.
But the soul inside it did not.
A robed examiner stepped forward, his silver staff humming with power. His eyes flicked over Kael with clear disgust.
"Kael of no lineage," the man said coldly. "You are not registered as a mage. You should not be standing here."
Kael met his gaze calmly.
"I was invited."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
The examiner sneered. "By who? Delusion?"
Before Kael could answer, the air shifted.
The floating crystals flickered.
Several mages stiffened, sensing it.
Dark magic.
Not explosive. Not wild.
Controlled.
Kael didn't release it. He simply allowed it to exist.
The bridge trembled slightly.
The examiner's expression changed—confusion, then unease.
"What… are you?"
Kael tilted his head, genuinely curious.
"I was killed," he said softly. "Then I woke up."
That was all.
Silence swallowed the bridge.
A noble boy stepped forward, magic blazing brightly around his hands. His robes bore the crest of a powerful house.
"Enough games," the boy snapped. "A nobody like you doesn't get to stand here. Kneel and leave."
Old Kael would have obeyed.
This Kael smiled.
"In my first life," he said, almost thoughtfully, "I learned something important."
The noble scoffed. "And what's that?"
Kael took a step forward.
"That people who talk the most… die the fastest."
The dark symbols on his arms pulsed.
The crystal above the bridge shattered.
Magic screamed as power surged outward, knocking several candidates to their knees. The noble boy froze, terror flooding his face as the air around Kael twisted unnaturally.
Kael stopped inches away from him.
He did not strike.
He did not need to.
"You won't touch me again," Kael said quietly. "Not in this life."
The pressure vanished.
The noble collapsed, gasping.
The examiners stared in stunned silence.
One of them finally spoke, voice strained.
"By the laws of the Trials… any who awaken magic may participate."
He hesitated, then added:
"Even forbidden magic."
Kael turned toward the bridge's far end, where the academy gates loomed—massive, ancient, and carved with runes meant to keep monsters out.
Or keep something worse in.
As he walked forward, the whispers returned—this time filled with fear instead of mockery.
"That power… it's wrong."
"He's cursed."
"He doesn't feel human."
Kael heard them all.
He welcomed it.
As the gates opened, a familiar presence stirred deep within his soul.
Good, the ancient voice whispered.
Let them fear you.
Kael's smile widened.
"This world rejected me once," he murmured.
He stepped into the academy.
"It won't survive rejecting me again."